she noticed his color was returning. “We need to unwrap your ankle, so we can ice it.”
Clenching his teeth, he nodded. When the task was done, Lemon sat down next to Jaxson. A stilted silence descended over the room. She angled to face Jaxson. His chin was set in stony defiance. Lucas wore a similar expression. Sheesh. These two cousins had some bad blood between them. Some small part of her was tempted to just sit here to see how long it would take for one of them to speak. Several more minutes ticked by. Finally, she let out a long sigh. “Okay, enough.” She eyed Jaxson. “Like I said earlier, I don’t know what you thought you saw, but I can assure you that it wasn’t what you thought.” When Jaxson shot her a surly glare, her temper took hold. “You should be thanking Lucas,” she snipped. “While you were outside smooching with Miss Jumbo Chest Barbie, Lucas was helping me get through a panic attack.”
Lucas hooted with laughter at the same time Jaxson’s jaw hit the floor.
Lemon rushed on. “If anyone should be upset here, it’s me.” Her eyes cut into Jaxson’s. “You told me you weren’t involved with anyone, but that’s obviously not the case.” The acrid hurt rushed back as she balled her hands. A quiver of the panic returned. She took in a deep breath to stay it. “For the record, I never would have kissed you had I known about Tillie.”
Lucas chuckled. “Not just Tillie, but Angelica, Jessica, Kat, Leah … There are so many that I’ve lost count,” he said drolly.
Lemon’s heart froze. “What?” she uttered, turning to Jaxson. A torrent of crimson was moving over his jaw.
“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, Lemon, but your boy’s a bit of a player,” Lucas jeered.
“Shut up!” Jaxson warned.
Lemon swallowed the tightness in her throat. The walls were closing in on her. Just breathe, she commanded herself. A harsh laugh scratched through her throat. She was such an idiot! This wasn’t some fairytale where the prince rode in on a white horse and swept the damsel away from her problems. She didn’t understand why she felt such a strong connection to Jaxson. How could she understand? Her past was a gaping hole. Lemon hated the wretched tears that rose in her eyes. She pushed them back, but not before one escaped and dribbled down her cheek. Hastily, she swiped it away with her palm, embarrassed that Jaxson and Lucas had seen it.
“Are you happy now?” Jaxson thundered.
She jerked, thinking for a second that he was talking to her. Then she realized his words were directed at Lucas.
“What do you mean?” Lucas snarled.
Jaxson grunted. “It’s always the same. You don’t give a crap about Lemon. You never did. You just want her because I do.”
Lemon blinked. Jaxson wanted her? A ray of sunlight broke through the dark curtain of her mind. She wanted Jaxson too. She always had.
Lucas’s face boiled red, the vein in his forehead pulsing. “You know, cousin, everyone talks about how smart and savvy you are, but in reality, you’re dumber than a box of bricks. You wouldn’t know true love if it bit you in the butt.” He shook his head. “You accuse me of ruining your relationship with Lemon, but you did that all on your own.”
The words came at Lemon like bullets. She tried to sort through them to decipher their meaning. “I don’t understand,” she stammered, eyeing Lucas. “What do you mean? How do you fit into this picture?”
“That’s enough!” Jaxson warned, giving Lemon a worried glance.
Lucas’s head swung back and forth as he stood. “Forget it,” he said dully. “It’s water under the bridge.”
“No!” Lemon’s voice cracked through the room as she glared at them. “I wanna know what happened.” She ground her teeth together. “Tell me!” A whisper of something enveloped her. It was right there on the edge of her consciousness, but for the life of her, she couldn’t quite grasp it. Had she and Lucas dated? He was handsome, charismatic. He’d probably turned a lot of heads. Had he turned hers? The answer came with a jolt—an unequivocal No. For her, it had always been Jaxson. She felt a stroke of victory at having unearthed a quiver of a memory without unleashing another panic attack.
“Good to see you, Lemon. I hope everything works out for you.” Lucas’s voice was impersonal, stilted.
“Thanks,” she mumbled.
He and Jaxson locked gazes like gunslingers at high